Quarterly Report: April 01 – June 30, 2018

The activity's purpose is to establish and sustain AUAF as a U.S.-style higher learning institution, with a diverse student body and market-based degree programs. This objective aligns with the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's National Priority Program for Human Resource Development and Higher Education (2010). AUAF also directly supports USAID/Afghanistan's Development Objective 2, "Gains in Health, Education, and the Empowerment of Women Maintained and Enhanced," Intermediate Result 2.2 "Equitable Access to Quality, Relevant Education Increased," as well as Sub-Intermediate Result 2.2.2 "Education systems strengthened to prepare Afghans for employment." In September 2016, AUAF received a Corrective Action letter based on the results from a Mid-Term Assessment conducted in May-July 2016 and a terrorist attack in August 2016. The letter required a revision to the Cooperative Agreement's Program Description to include additional activities addressing security, accounting and financial management, and academic quality. The five program objectives are: 1. Providing Effective Security 2. Serving the Higher Education Needs of Afghanistan 3. Enhancing Quality of Academic Programs 4. Supporting Women's Academic and Professional Development 5. Increasing Financial Self-Sufficiency During the reporting period (April-June 2018), AUAF achieved several key milestones. The university's Master of Arts in Education—Law Enforcement (MAELE) degree was recognized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as having the most positive impact on the professionalization of the police. UNDP observed that the 2 ½-year master's course has a long-term positive impact on students, most of whom are instructors in the Ministry of Interior Affairs' Police Academy. AUAF is pursuing a contract with the Ministry of Education (MoE) to enroll 330 employees of the ministry in the Master of Arts in Education (MAE) this fall. Each student will pay full tuition, which will be funded by an international donor, most likely UNDP. The program will begin with six months of intensive English instruction before the start of the academic program. AUAF is also in discussions with Shorelight Education regarding a contract that would enable eight universities in the United States to teach courses at AUAF using videoconferencing technology. This approach aims to address one of AUAF's most challenging problems—how to attract qualified instructors able to maintain or raise the quality of the university's academic programs.